September 16 Recap
By Marc Brafman
A great weather evening for softball last night as we finally got the last week of the 2nd half of the season finished.
Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner leads off for Team Weisser:
Weisser beat Schwartz 12-6 or 12-7. Brad Wagner came in like Michael Lorenzen in a spot start and took care of Team Schwartz allowing only one walk over 7 innings. Great defensive plays by Scott Friend, David Wertheim, Evan Weisser, the father/son combo of Griff/Dee Harris, and Ben Margolis. Big hits by Team Weisser came from Mike Margolis who crushed a 2-out, 50 ft blooper to start a big rally late in the game, the Harris Family, James “Not Worthy” Swan, Wagner, Brian “opposite field” Goldberg, and David “8-Mile Reject” Wertheim. Commissioner Tenenholtz is checking the record books as his predecessor may be setting a record for triples in a season like his Great, Great Uncle Honus. The Commissioner Emeritus was asked after the game about it and said, “My ass is too slow and those should be homers. The off-season will be spent doing speed drills with parachutes, ankle weights, and verbal motivation from Scott Wolf.”
Team Weisser is trying some new superstitions heading into the tournament as David Wertheim is sporting a Marshall Mathers’ hairstyle and Griff Harris is now a preferred customer at Shlomo’s Fool’s Gold and Pawn with his recent purchases hanging from his neck.
Team Schwartz had big hits from their usual suspects of Adam Cronstein, Randy “Tex” Broyles, Captain Schwartz, and Harry “Hood” Meisner(s). Team Schwartz’s key defensive play was a fantastic throw by the Captain to nail a tagging Ben Margolis out at the plate. The league wishes B-Rod a speedy recovery after a shoulder injury.
Great to see some legendary fans at the game last night. Dave “Mays & McCovey” Wernick, Steve “We’re done using that ball” Ostrow, and Mark “Boychick” Gordon.
Over on Field 4 it was a battle royal between Lefton and Loon. Jimmy picks up the action for us:
Just a typical JCC game on Field 4 last night. Team Lefton led 20-5 in the 5th and then held on to win 24-14…yes, held on as Loon came off the mat and scored 9 in the fifth causing a brief meltdown for team Lefton, which regrouped and scored 4 in the next inning off Fink pitching in relief. “Fink has a future on the mound similar to Jose DeLeon,” Jimmy said after the game. Anton reports that had Rick Lefton been able to lift it he would have chucked the big gatorade jug onto the field like Sweet Lou during his 5th inning Lefton meltdown. Luckily cooler heads prevailed because we needed to continue the game and a game called on account of a puddle of gatorade would not have gone over well with Commish Rick.
Finally, in the game of the night on Field 1 first place in the 2nd half was on the line as Team Groh battled Team Brafman:
Ken reports first:
In the top of the 1st, Sam Castellini and Tyler Stansbury scored on a 2-out single by Groh. In the bottom of the 1st, Joel Buckley hit a lead-off homer on a liner to right field and after a few hits Brafman’s single up the middle put his squad up 3-2. After hits by Ryan Baum and Bryce Anslinger and a walk to David Snyder, Mark Franklin, who had his best career game, drove in 2 runs with a big hit to give Groh a 4-3 lead which they took to the 3rd inning. After a Adam Knecht’s RBI grounder Groh, Joel Kahn, Baum and Anslinger had consecutive hits to push the lead to 7-3. Brafman scored two to make it 7-5 which held until the top of the 5th. Team Groh batted around for the 1st time all season and when the dust settled led 13-5. Joel Kahn’s 3rd hit and 4th RBI gave Groh a 14-5 lead heading into the bottom of the 6th. Team Brafman plated 3 in the frame and Groh got two back in the top of the 7th after an Anslinger walk and a Snyder single batting left handed. Mark Franklin drove in his 4th run of the game after hitting a line drive off the pitcher and Anslinger diving into home. Marc Simons’ sac fly made it 16-8. After the 1st 2 guys scored in the bottom of the 7th, Team Groh recorded the win and the 2nd half title. Great defensive plays were made by Kahn snagging a short hop (#6 on top 10), Weisbrot who made a great catch to end an inning with the bases loaded (#4 on top 10) and Tyler Stansbury had his own diving catch that hit #2 on ESPN list but #1 came in the bottom of the 1st with Marc Simons going over the fence in foul territory to snag a ball! My team always gets after me for my lack of pregame speeches to psych them up so I gave them 4 words before and throughout the game…”Don’t Ring the Bell”!
Brafman chimes in that he was proud of his team’s effort and wishes that we could have fielded a little better during the game. Big hits by Sam “The hitman” Hecht, Duffy Wolf, and a stolen base by the always fleet of foot Mike “Flash” Creemer helped us stay in the game. A tip of the Yarmulke to Team Groh for winning the 2nd half.
The post season is here, and this is who everyone is playing next Wednesday, September 23 at 5:45 PM (home team listed first):
Team Loon (1) is on a bye for the first round:
Groh (2) vs Schwartz (7) on Field 3
Brafman (3) vs Fogel (6) on Field 4
Weisser (4) vs Lefton (5) on Field 1
Brad mentioned it above, but it needs a second mention that David “8 Mile” Wertheim does look like a reject from the Slim Shady music videos.
As most of us know baseball legend Tom Seaver passed away last week. Scott Wolf has one of the coolest memories of Seaver as he was at his no-hitter vs. the Cards, kept score, kept his ticket stub and his game program all framed around a Hall of Fame autographed picture of Seaver. A very cool piece that Roger has been trying to buy off him for years.
For those of you looking for a good place to eat during the week check out the new BBQ outdoor menu from the J-Cafe. Chef Drew “Cobra Kai” Brown will serve you up some nice kosher meats and teach you how to crane kick your neighbor all at once. (Editor’s note…for those of you with Netflix check out the show Cobra Kai. It’s really good) NO MERCY
Our thoughts are with Mike Rothstein and his family this week as his mom passed away last week. May her memory be a blessing, Mike.
We have a special 2nd time catching up with this week with Dave “The Minister of Fun” Cohen telling me he is pulling a Frank Costanza and moving into Del Boca Vista, Florida. “I’ve traded in my P&G gear for the latest in the Jimmy Buffett line of clothing and I plan on making my way in the canasta tournaments and those guys better watch out on the shuffleboard courts. Without playing this year my arm is ready to push those round tiles down the court.” We wish Dave well this upcoming Nov. when the Rummikub world finals hits Del Boca Vista.
Finally, in what’s Roger been up to this week: It’s a very exciting week for Roger as the Reds have teamed with Kroger for fan appreciation week. At select Kroger locations starting this weekend you can get a Sonny Gray or Trevor Bauer bobble head. Roger will be camped outside each of these Kroger locations with his local girl scout troop asking people to go in and buy a bobblehead for him. People are used to seeing girl scouts outside of Kroger selling cookies. Well I figured I could use them to help me get people to buy bobbleheads at the same time. No one wants to buy anything from me. They just look at me, but cute little girls they can sell ice to an Eskimo.
Have a happy and safe new year’s everyone (And thanks for Rabbi Yitz for blowing the Shofar last night)
Stay safe. Mask UP.